1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage and reproduction apparatus, and in particular to a storage and reproduction apparatus using a semiconductor memory.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Nowadays, there are recording/reproduction apparatus which can easily be used for recording/reproducing a sound just like writing down contents of a lecture or discussion on a memo paper. Such a recording/reproduction apparatus uses a semiconductor memory as a recording medium for storing a sound signals as a predetermined number of files and the sound signal is reproduced to output a sound. More specifically, the recording/reproduction apparatus stores a sound data consisting of a plurality of files in a semiconductor memory and upon reproduction, successively reproduces the sound data, starting with an older file.
When writing down contents of a discussion on a memo notebook, the latest content is written on a later page of the memo notebook. Accordingly, when reading the contents afterward, it is necessary to turn pages to read the latest contents.
This inconvenience is also met in a recording/reproduction apparatus which stores a latest sound as a last file in a semiconductor memory, which requires search of the file containing the latest sound prior to reproducing the latest sound.
Those files stored in memory can be erased when they have become unnecessary. However, when there is a necessity to reproduce a file or when new files are successively stored without any time to erase them, more important files tend to be recorded at the last write-in address or read-out address of memory. Accordingly, as more and more files are recorded, there will be contained more files which are scarcely to be accessed. Those files which are not so important are first to be read out from memory to be reproduced and the latest file which has been just recorded tends to be the last to be reproduced.
That is, when a user wants to reproduce a sound data of the latest important file, he/she needs to carry out an operation for search the target latest file from a plurality of files stored in memory. This requires a complicated operation procedure to read out a necessary file from memory and reproduce it.
In order to read out from memory and reproduce a target sound data in the aforementioned recording/reproduction apparatus using a semiconductor memory, a user needs to operate a plurality of operation buttons such as a reproduction button, forward direction search button, and reverse direction search button. More specifically, when a plurality of data pieces are recorded in a semiconductor memory, prior to reproduction, it is necessary to press a forward direction search button and a reverse direction search button to select a target data piece to be reproduced so that an index number of the target data piece is displayed in a display block of the apparatus. After this, a reproduction button is pressed so as to reproduce the target sound data. Here, if a plenty of index numbers are involved, the user needs to continuously press the search button so as to display the target index number.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a storage and reproducing apparatus which resolves the above-mentioned problem.
According to the present invention, there is provided a storage and reproducing apparatus including a memory, a reproduction block, an operation block, and a control block. The memory stores a data entered and an auxiliary data for the entered data. The reproduction block reproduces a data which has been read out from the memory. The operation block is provided on an apparatus main body. The operation block includes a rotary operation block provided on the apparatus main body in such a manner that the rotary operation block can be rotated around a rotation center and shifted along a plane which almost orthogonally intersects the rotation center. The control block, according to an input from the operation block, carries out writing of a data and an auxiliary data into the memory and read-out of a data stored in the memory. The control block, according to the rotation direction of the rotary operation block, reads out an auxiliary data from the memory, and when the rotary operation block is moved in the direction of the plane, reads out a data from the memory so as to be reproduced by the reproduction block according to an auxiliary data read out from the memory.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage and reproducing apparatus including a memory, a reproduction block, an operation block, and a control block. The memory stores a data entered and a management data for the entered data. The reproduction block reproduces a data which has been read out from the memory. The operation block is provided on an apparatus main body. The control block, according to an input from the operation block, carries out writing of a data and a management data into the memory and read-out of a data stored in the memory. The control block rewrites a management data so that a new data written into the memory is read out prior to the data already stored in the memory.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage and reproducing apparatus including a memory, a reproduction block, an operation block, and a control block. The memory stores a data entered and a management data for the entered data. The reproduction block reproduces a data which has been read out from the memory. The operation block is provided on an apparatus main body. The control block, according to an input from the operation block, carries out writing of a data and a management data into the memory and read-out of a data stored in the memory. The control block operates as follows. If an instruction of a data write is issued from the operation block during a reproduction operation by the reproduction block, the control block interrupts the reproduction operation by the reproduction block and starts a data write into the memory.
According to yet still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage and reproducing apparatus including a signal processing block, a memory, a reproduction block, an operation block, and a control block. The signal processing block converts a sound signal entered, into a digital signal. The memory stores a digital signal outputted from the signal processing block and a management data for the digital signal. The reproduction block reproduces a digital signal which has been read out from the memory. The operation block is provided on an apparatus main body and includes a rotary operation block provided on the apparatus main body in such a manner that the rotary operation block can be rotated around a rotation center and shifted along a plane which almost orthogonally intersects the rotation center. The control block, according to an input from the operation block, carries out writing of a digital signal and a management data into the memory and read-out of a digital signal and a management data stored in the memory. The control block operates as follows. According to the rotation direction of the rotary operation block, the control block reads out a management data, and when the rotary operation block is moved along the aforementioned plane, the control block reads out a digital data from the memory according to a management data read out from the memory.